Porn Group Cracks Down on Pirate Tube Sites

[shamu726]

The MetArt Network, a group of well-known adult websites, is cracking down on pirate tube sites. Through a series of lawsuits filed at a federal court in Seattle, Washington, the group hopes to take out Spankbang.com, Pornvideoxo.com, Pornburst.xxx and various other sites that host their videos without permission.

Porn is huge on the Internet, and so is pirated porn.

In common with other entertainment industries adult producers are battling with a constant stream of illegal content. Most of this content is enjoyed via so-called tube sites where videos can be streamed instantly.

In an effort to put a stop to the unauthorized streams MetArt Network has decided to take several pirate tube sites to court.

The group has filed ten lawsuits in Seattle, Washington, targeting the operators of Spankbang.com, Pornvideoxo.com, Pornburst.xxx, Sextvx.com and other streaming sites that offer their content without permission.

The site owners are accused of various copyright and trademark violations, as well as unfair competition. According to MetArt the sites hide behind the DMCA while profiting heavily from the illegal videos they host.

“The DMCA safe harbor provisions have been systematically abused by internet copyright infringers in an attempt to garner protection for pirate websites displaying copyrighted adult entertainment content without license or authority for free viewing to the public,” the complaint (pdf) reads.

“Under a veneer of DMCA compliance, the owners and operators attempt to hide behind the safe harbor provisions while monetizing the website through premium membership programs and substantial advertising contracts.”

MetArt points out that the site’s operators take no measures to ensure that pirated videos stay offline, nor do they enforce a policy to ban repeat copyright infringers among their users.

Instead of taking proactive steps against piracy, the tube sites are “willfully blind” to the infringements while using MetArt’s brand to advertise its services, the adult group claims.

“Defendants’ acts and omissions allow them to profit from their infringement while imposing the burden of monitoring Defendants’ website onto copyright holders, without sufficient means to prevent continued and unabated infringement,” the complaint reads.

One problem MetArt faces is that some site owners hide behind private Whois registrations. The company has therefore asked the court for a subpoena against Whoisguard, Enom, CloudFlare and various other service providers so it can identify those responsible.

Through the lawsuits MetArt eventually hopes to recoup damages which can run into the millions of dollars. In addition, they’re asking the court to transfer the sites’ domain names to stop future infringements.

Whether the adult group’s arguments will hold up in court has yet to be seen but the cases will be watched closely by the adult industry as well as the major Hollywood studios, who face a similar ‘pirate’ steaming problem.

Source: TorrentFreak

[knowledge-Spammer]

goodluck with that

[funkyy]

I don't know what they're crying about. I'd guess that the majority of people who download porn are folks who would be too embarrassed to go into a sex shop and buy a video...in other words the "porn industry" wouldn't be getting that revenue, hence it's not right to consider/calculate it as lost revenue. I once worked in a video rental shop and the slowest moving rentals were the adult section. You could see people sheepishly squinting up at the top shelves and looking around in case someone that they knew saw them.. The internet has freed people from the commercial monopoly imposed by big business just as the sexual revolution of the 60's freed people from the moral monopoly imposed by church and state. The "porn industry" will just have to adapt itself to the changed world, after all radio and cinema was threatened by the arrival of TV, but they both survived despite the gloomy predictions of that time. Rich people don't like change...unless it's the kind of change that they impose and that makes them even richer. The "porn industry" should look on the bright side, they will always have a market..every generation likes bonking!!! :lol: :lol: :lol: